Latest update April 18th, 2024 12:59 AM
Jan 18, 2012 News
– bows to sacking decision
Head of the Privatization Unit and the National Industrial and Commercial Investments Limited (NICIL),
Winston Brassington, on Monday last, sought to castigate this publication’s reportage on Makeshwar ‘Fip’ Motilall, Synergy Holdings Inc and the administration.
However, in the process he contradicted pronouncements by Head of the Presidential Secretariat Dr Roger Luncheon.
Brassington in his statement to the media on what he calls an attempt to “clear the air”, says that “given that time is now of the essence, in that the main project should be ready to start towards the end of the second quarter of this year, Government considered Synergy’s breach of the recent amendment and the time that one or more third parties would take to complete the project, and opted to terminate.”
The larger project is that of the Amaila Falls Hydroelectric Plant for which the price tag has escalated to some US$835M with financial closure still pending.
Head of the Presidential Secretariat Dr Roger Luncheon, last December, when he announced that Motilall had got an extension to April had also told this publication that the delays in the road construction would not affect the financial closure for the larger project.
Dr Luncheon, in December, said that the financial closure has not yet been made “and there will continue to be opportunities to synchronize the road conclusion and the beginning of the hydro construction.”
The beginning of the dam construction of the Hydro project depends on financial closure. “So we are not locked in,” Dr Luncheon said. He explained that should there have been a drop dead date such as February 2, then there would have had to be financial closure by then.
“The completion of the road is not linked to financial closure…Financial closure depends on the parties involved; Government, those who are financing, those who are constructing agreeing on a financial package to get the work done … the road is not included in those considerations.”
He explained that the road is a ‘vehicle’ to ensure that when the construction (of the hydroelectric project) starts it is not encumbered by access difficulties …”so there is a bit of a room, there is a bit of possibility for some movements to take place.”
Brassington in his statement to the media again defended the award of the contract to Makeswhar ‘Fip’ Motilall of Synergy Holdings Inc. He said that the tender for the approach roads to Amaila Falls was evaluated via normal procedures within Government.
“As would be expected, given the size of the contract, this award received the no-objection of Cabinet, following which the contract was executed by the Government of Guyana, NICIL, and Synergy Holdings Inc…It has been well established, that the tender sum from Synergy Holdings was the lowest of the four tenders received, with the price ranging from US$15.4 M to US$26M.”
Originally there were several bidders, including a consortium comprising, B&J Civil Works, Ivor Allen & Dynamic Engineering Co. Ltd with a bid of US$16.65M; BK International Inc with a bid of US$21.1M and Roopan Ramotar with a bid of US$26M.
Synergy Holdings Inc’s bid of US$15.4M was the successful one and it was pointed out that before an evaluation of the proposals was undertaken, the persons submitting proposals were first examined to determine whether they satisfied the pre-qualification criteria/process which was set out in the advertisement and the tender documentation.
The prequalification process was an assessment of the applicable experience of the potential contractor; availability of equipment, access to materials, adequacy of personnel of the potential contractor to perform the job and capacity of the potential contractor to undertake the scope of the works within the allotted timeframe among others.
Motilall’s road building experience has always been a bone of contention with the administration and the contractor himself failing to provide any evidence of comparable roads built in the past in Georgia and Florida as had been touted.
Motilall has admitted that the roads that he has purportedly built are on his own private land and has only admitted to a total of some 24 miles of road in two different states which is yet to be supported by any evidence.
As it relates to equipment, Motilall also conceded that at the time he had gotten the first Construction Notice To Proceed on the Road to Amaila Falls, he did not have the requisite equipment for that section. He had to wait for several months for equipment, which was purchased overseas with the help of an advance that was made to the Contractor by the Government of Guyana.
JAGDEO ADDING MORE DANGER TO GUYANA AND THE REGION
Apr 18, 2024
SportsMax – West Indies captain Hayley Matthews has been named Wisden’s leading Twenty20 Cricketer for 2023, as she topped all and sundry, including her male counterparts. Alan Gardner looks...Kaieteur News – Compliments of the Ministry of Education, our secondary school children are being treated to a stage... more
By Sir Ronald Sanders Waterfalls Magazine – On April 10, the Permanent Council of the Organization of American States... more
Freedom of speech is our core value at Kaieteur News. If the letter/e-mail you sent was not published, and you believe that its contents were not libellous, let us know, please contact us by phone or email.
Feel free to send us your comments and/or criticisms.
Contact: 624-6456; 225-8452; 225-8458; 225-8463; 225-8465; 225-8473 or 225-8491.
Or by Email: [email protected] / [email protected]